True North

The Perfect Host

Alan Grant is a member of Royal Dornoch. He is also the host at The Carnegie Club, the man who makes the privileged members there feel at home. For a passionate golfer he is incongruously artistic, creative in life not least through his sometimes homemade wardrobe, creative on the course too, with a long sweeping fade from the tee and flashes of genius around the greens. He is front of house, but takes it easy in the background. His considerable charm is very natural.

He meets and greets at Skibo Castle, sometimes says a few words before dinner in the evenings. As with his golf swing, he makes sure things go smoothly. He can often be seen on the links at Skibo (invariably the least busy golf course you can imagine) with little less than a half set, joining guests for a few holes, maybe thrilling them with a fabulous lob shot, maybe just adding some highland colour.

As an art graduate he travelled far from Dornoch, the town where he grew up. And in his Carnegie Club capacity he travels far and wide too, often visiting the club’s international members many of whom have become his friends. But it is this part of the world he loves and for all Skibo’s glories it is Royal Dornoch Golf Club he is in thrall too.

Playing with him there he tells me the first six holes at Dornoch speak to one another, so that when one gives up a birdie its neighbour will know to demand a bogey. They commune with one another as he does with the course here. This is his way: a little bit of light Scottish magic in his stories. He spins great yarns. He doesn’t tell but he shows and one leaves convinced of Dornoch’s special properties because that’s the way he feels, that’s what he believes and sees in Dornoch.

He tells jokes and at the same time is deadly serious. Like Shakespeare’s Fest, the clown of Twelfth Night, Grant is ‘wise enough to play the fool’.

He tells me you’ve not lived till you’ve putted out by moonlight on the 18th green and I believe him. Alan also tells me that the links at Dornoch is like a ‘72 Margaux. Looking for some sort of symmetry I check the wine lists at Skibo and Links House. Very serious wines are available at both venues. But the specific vintage and producer doesn’t show up. I learn two things: Alan has been party to some significant rare wine and Dornoch itself is a rare and special pleasure.